Monday, March 18, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: A Heart Matter Part II

Last week we began looking at the beatitude in Matthew 5:8, which reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  The Message states it this way, “You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right.  Then you can see God in the outside world.”  We ended by asking ourselves if we really want God to see and know our heart.  He does, whether we like it or not, but what are we doing to make sure our heart is clean and fully devoted to Him?  Are we ready and willing to pray David’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”?  

So how can we maintain a pure heart as we go through our days?  By ourselves, it is impossible, but what is impossible for us is possible for God!  With Him living in us and His Spirit controlling us, we can have a heart which is pleasing to Him.

One of the most primary ways we can develop a pure heart is by spending time in the Word of God.  As the psalmist said, “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9) and then in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”   If we are struggling with having a pure heart, we need to check how much time we are spending in the Bible.

Another way to maintain a pure heart is through fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, because it helps to be accountable to one another.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10,”Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, hisfriend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”  The author of Hebrews tells us in 10:24, “Let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  If you aren’t spending time with other believers, I highly encourage you to make it a priority.

Thirdly, we can train our heart for pure living by serving our Jesus.  The more we serve Him, the more devoted we become, and the more we will want to make sure our heart is pleasing to Him.

The end of this beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”, gives me chills!  When our time on this earth is over, those who have faithfully served Him as their Lord and Savior will see Him face to face for all of eternity.  I John 3:2 reads, “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”.

What an amazing promise!  Spending eternity with our Jesus is what we should look forward to…beyond college degrees, beyond climbing the corporate ladder or even beyond a secured retirement.  Seeing Him face to face will make our focus of having a pure heart all worthwhile!  

Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: A Heart Matter Part I

I want to take a moment and thank you so much for your encouragement to me following last week’s post.  I believe I had the most “shares” and “views” of any post I have made.  Your love, support and especially prayers are so appreciated, and God is hearing and answering!  I seem to be healing well and need much less pain medicine…so I can’t thank you enough for lifting me up to the Throne.  My cast is to come off on Wednesday and then we will enter the next phase of my recovery.  God is SO good and I am so thankful that He sees you and me and cares about every aspect of our journey!

 

Today’s beatitude is the most central and significant of all the beatitudes mentioned in the fifth chapter of Matthew. Because of this, we will look at it in two parts, one today and then we will conclude it next week.

 

Matthew 5:8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  The Message states it this way:  "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”

This beatitude is so central to our behavior because we can’t be poor in spirit without having a pure heart. We can’t mourn for the things that displease God without having a pure heart. We can’t be meek, we can’t hunger and thirst for righteousness, we can’t be merciful, we can’t be a peacemaker or be prepared to withstand persecution for the name of Christ,,,without having a pure heart. Actually, this is one of the most central principles of the Christian life which we see in the entire Bible. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

Unfortunately, we are usually more careful to keep everything clean which is seen by others and forget about the things which only God can see. If my hands are muddy, nobody wants to shake hands with me, so I better keep them clean. If I am wearing a dirty shirt, there is a good chance you would give more attention to my shirt and not hear what I am saying. We want to keep up appearances before others, but we forget about keeping pure before God.

That is why Jesus gave such a harsh rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, who thought of themselves as the purest of all people. They were extremely careful to keep their outward appearance clean before men, but they didn’t worry about their relationship with God. Jesus told them: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.  (Matthew 23:25-28) 

Explaining to the disciples, He said in Matthew 15:19-20: “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”  

This is the impure heart.

1 Chronicles 28:9 says, “And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

That is why David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 was, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” 

Do you know there are certain things we can do that God can’t? We can lie. We can commit adultery. We can cheat. We can steal. But God can’t break these moral laws, nor can He ignore them when we break them. We are usually fairly careful to observe the local laws set by our government because we have immediate consequences, but many times, we ignore the moral laws which have far more serious consequences. Having a pure heart means keeping God’s moral laws.

The interesting thing is that when we think of adultery, we think of it in the physical sense, having a sexual relation outside of marriage. The Bible does talk about this kind of adultery and certainly prohibits it. However, the Bible talks about spiritual adultery far more than physical adultery. There is a whole book written to deal with the issue of spiritual adultery in the people of God, the book of Hosea. There are many chapters in the Old Testament which deal with the spiritual adultery in the people of God.

In the New Testament, Jesus said you can’t worship God and money. So, when we devote our hearts to anything that is other than the cause of God, we commit spiritual adultery. As James said in James 4, verses 4 & 8:  4)“You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”  8) “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

Both the Old and New Testaments say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and the greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38; also Deuteronomy 6:5).

This is a pure heart in the spiritual sense.

The question is, do we really want God to see and know our heart?  He does, whether we like it or not, but what are we doing to make sure our heart is clean and fully devoted to Him?  Are we ready and willing to pray David’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”?  If we aren’t, then maybe we should spend this next week asking God to give us the courage to pray this prayer, expecting God to do a heart-cleaning within us for His glory!

Until next week…  

Monday, March 4, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: Life Update

I had my blog post all done for today, which centered on our next beatitude.  But I felt impressed to put a “pause” on this series to share with you a life update.

 

In the summer of 2022, I began having pain in both of my ankles.  I hadn’t had a particular injury which caused this…it just came on and it didn’t take long to have it really affect my daily life.  To make a long story short…it was discovered I had tears in both of my Achilles tendons.  I had to wear a boot on the ankle which was the worst until healing could occur.  Once that ankle had improved…I moved the boot to the other ankle and wore it until the pain lessened.

 

Over many months, healing did occur, and I was able to return to a fairly normal daily routine.  I was back walking and feeling good again and that continued until last August, 2023.  Dan and I were on vacation and were out on a hike and I suddenly had pain return to both ankles.  I thought just taking it easy for a while would settle down the pain, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.  So, by October I was back in the doctor’s office and it was confirmed I had tears in both Achilles once again.  This time I ended up having to wear 2 boots at the same time because I just couldn’t take the severe pain of walking with shoes.

 

Let me tell you…if you want to get attention when you are in public…put two boots on.  No matter where we went…people stared.  Mouths dropped open…fingers were pointed…gasps were heard.  Complete strangers came up to me to share their words of wisdom, such as “You have two boots on!”  It was good they told me because I, of course, had no idea I had boots on both of my feet   

 

I understand…it isn’t a normal thing to see and I learned to laugh at the comments…most of the time.  Fortunately, it also gave me an opportunity to share about God’s faithfulness to complete strangers.  I remember one gentleman approached me in a restaurant and he wanted to know why in the world I had two on and so I briefly shared what was going on.  His response was, “But you are still smiling.  How are you able to smile?”  So, I shared with him that even though I wasn’t enjoying going through this detour in my life…God was still faithful.  I told him God had never let me down yet…and I knew He wasn’t going to let me down now.  I wish I would have had a camera…because the look on his face was priceless.  I think my answer was much more than he bargained for.

 

I couldn’t begin physical therapy until this past January because we had to wait for the severe inflammation to settle down first.  So, the first week of the year I found myself with a therapist as he began working on trying to get me back to “normal”…whatever that is!  Again, to shorten the story…two weeks ago today…it was determined that physical therapy just wasn’t going to be able to fix my problems and I was told I needed to see a surgeon.  

 

By Wednesday of that week, I was sitting in the surgeon’s office and it was confirmed I needed surgery.  Since both ankles cannot be done at the same time, the decision was made to operate on the right one first because it was the worst one.  By Thursday of that week the surgery date was set for this past Thursday and I am now in a time of recovery. Once this ankle gets to a certain point in its healing, my left ankle will more than likely be operated on next.  I have been told that each surgery will have a total recovery time of 12 months.


 

I don’t know if you followed that timeline or not…but in the span of only 11 days…I was able to see my doctor, the surgeon, schedule surgery, get insurance approval and have the surgery! Absolutely amazing.  In this world of delays and life “hiccups”…nothing usually goes that smoothly.

 

Why am I sharing all of this with you today?  To be honest…I’m not sure…I just know that I felt God asking me to do so.  I’m wondering if maybe you are also going through something in your life where you aren’t sure that God really “sees” you.  You may feel all alone in your current troubles…I know I have had days where I felt like that.  You may feel like maybe there isn’t any hope of things getting better…I know I have had days where I lost hope.  You may be in so much physical or emotional pain today that you feel you just can’t go on…trust me…I’ve had many days where I felt like the pain was too intense and I couldn’t go on.

 

Wherever you find yourself today…I want to encourage you and let you know that God does SEE you.  He knows right where you are and nothing you are going through is a surprise to Him.  He loves you so much and cares more for you than you can even imagine.  Can He touch you today and take all your pain and troubles away?  Yes, our God is all powerful and there isn’t anything He can’t do…but He may not choose to do so.  Because sometimes God doesn’t take you out of the fire.  Sometimes He just chooses to get in the fire with you.

 

Anyone who knows me well, knows that my ankles are not the only health issues which I face on a daily basis.  Have I wanted to be miraculously healed?   You bet I have!  But I have felt God impressing on me that I can do more for Him with my health issues than without and if that is truly the case…then my desire should be to bring Him glory…even in the fire.  Ephesians 3:20 reminds me that, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  HE IS ABLE…and until I take my last breath…I want to bring Him all the glory that He so richly deserves.

 

So, wherever you find yourself today…look up.  If you feel you are at the end of your rope…tie a knot in it and hang on.  Trust the One who holds you in the palm of His hand and won’t ever let you go and then I urge you to repeat this prayer:

 

“Father, I put my trust in You and today I give You _______________(state whatever struggle you are facing).  I thank You that you see me right where I am.  I thank You that You are the God of the impossible.  You can do anything and so I put my trust in Your ability and not my own.  Help me Father not to fear, but to rely on Your strength, Your power and Your timing…knowing that Your ways are perfect.  May my days be an example to others of your faithfulness and may my actions bring You all the glory and honor which You so richly deserve.  Amen.”

 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others,

that they may see your good deeds

and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16

Monday, February 26, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: Are We Care-Full?

I think today’s beatitude may be one which many of us think we are living out, but if we are truly honest, we would realize we have a ways to go to fulfill it.  In Matthew 5:7 we read, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  The version The Message states it this way:“You’re blessed when you care.  At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.”

 

I think most of us think we care about others, but I think we need to analyze whether we really care like Jesus has demonstrated for us.  We read in Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message), “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.  Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  Love like that.”

 

These verses tell us that just like children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ.  His great love for us led Him to sacrifice himself so we might live.  Our love for others should be the same kind – a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.  In other words, we need to show true mercy.

 

To have mercy for someone is to go the extra mile for him or her.  It’s not caring for them because you know you will get something in return.  And it’s not just having pity for someone.  I believe we can have pity for someone but not really care about him or her.  Pity doesn’t require any action, mercy does.

 

One definition of mercy is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”  In other words, if you have someone in your life who you really do have reason to punish for what they have done to you, but you show them compassion or forgiveness, that is being merciful.  Jesus could have denied mercy to those who crucified Him, but He forgave them and asked God to forgive them.  That mercy filtered down to us, as we were the reason He hung on that cross.

 

This is where showing mercy can become really difficult.  Since we are to imitate Christ, we are to also show mercy and concern for those who we could just as easily hurt…maybe because they hurt us first.  It isn’t easy though to show mercy to someone who has seriously wronged us, is it?  Our first thought is usually revenge, but God tells us to be merciful.  If we are going to look like our Jesus, we need to be willing to show mercy by forgiving the person who has wronged us even though that tends to go against the grain.  Now it may be necessary for there to be some sort of punishment or restitution from the person who wronged us, but we can still forgive them.

 

Preventing suffering is another means of showing mercy.  When we donate to the Red Cross, our church or other charitable organizations, we are showing mercy.  When we hand a bottle of cold water to someone who needs it, we are showing mercy.  Any way we can help, fits the description.  The best way to show mercy is to act.  Even the words “I forgive you” requires action on our part…we really must forgive and not store it up for later use.

 

There are other mental things we must watch out for if we truly want to show mercy.  The first is not to feel like we’re somehow the better person.  Any “holier than thou” reaction negates the good done by our actions.

 

We also need to avoid announcing our good deeds.  Jesus called the Pharisees for this, but the same holds true for us.  Telling about how we’ve been feeding, clothing or otherwise helping the homeless makes us look good in the eyes of others.  If that is our goal, that may be the only reward we receive.

 

Unfortunately, mercy is only easy if the other guy is doing it.  When it comes down to you and me, it gets a lot harder.  But it can be done, as it was done for us.

 

We need to remind ourselves from time to time that the beatitudes represent signs of those who are truly Christ’s disciples.  So, if we truly want to be a devoted follower of His, we need to be willing to show mercy.

Monday, February 19, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: How Hungry are You?

Believe it or not, I have heard people make the statement, “I was so busy today I forgot to eat.”  Are you serious?  I can’t remember one time in my life when I forgot to eat.  I have always found time to put food in my mouth.  Even on days when I have been extremely busy, with a very long list of things to accomplish on my to-do list…I haven’t let anything get in my way of consuming food.

I thought about this as I read this week’s beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt 5:6).  What does it mean to hunger and thirst not for food, but for righteousness?  

If we look at the definition of righteousness, we find it means morally right or justifiable; to be free from guilt or sin.  Since we are human, we know that on our own we can never be perfect in this, but the God we serve can be and is free from all guilt and sin.  If that is true, then this beatitude is telling us we need to strive, with everything we have, to be like Him.  To make it personal, just like I never let anything get in my way of eating, I should never let anything get in my way of being in a right relationship with my Jesus.

I love what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:7-11 and I especially like the way these verses are worded in the version The Message.  It says, “The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash – along with everything else I used to take credit for.  And why?  Because of Christ.  Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life.  Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant – dog dung.  I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.  I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s righteousness.

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience hisresurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to deathitself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to doit.”

Paul was willing to give up anything and everything to know Christ more.  His family, friendships, his freedom – in order to know Christ and experience His power.  We too have access to this knowledge and this power, but we may have to make sacrifices to enjoy it fully.  To know Christ should be our ultimate goal.

If we really walk through each day “hungering and thirsting” to be more like our Jesus, I believe it will affect everything we do.  It will affect our speech, our actions, our reactions and our behavior.  It will make a difference in how we view those with whom He puts in our path.  We will care more and love more.  We will be willing to stand up for what is right in God’s eyes, not what is right in the world’s eyes.  We will not live each day striving to be popular and accepted, but spend every moment displaying His truths and desires for us.  Only then can we be filled with all that He has for us.  

I think it all comes down to asking ourselves, “How hungry are we for righteousness?”  Are we hungry enough to realign our hectic schedule to spend time in prayer and Bible study?  Are we hungrier when we get up in the morning to open His Word…or check Facebook?  Are we willing to give up some of our plans or pleasures…or even a friend’s approval…to thirst after Christ?  No matter the cost, knowing our Jesus more and being in a right relationship with Him will make it all worthwhile.

Monday, February 12, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: Meekness or Weakness?

This week we are going to look at the third beatitude which Jesus shared with his disciples and many other onlookers on that day on the mountainside.  I’m beginning to wonder how those who were listening reacted as they listened.  Did they begin to squirm a little more with each one He shared or were they listing in their minds which one of their friends needed to be hearing Jesus’ words?  I know if I’m honest, I sometimes listen to a sermon and spend my time thinking, “I sure hope so-and-so is listening to this.  THEY sure need to hear it.”  As a result, I miss out on hearing what the Lord wants to tell ME so I can look more like Him.

I’m confident those who were there in person were a little perplexed when they heard this third beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matt 5:5) Meek?  I’m supposed to be a wimpy, soft-spoken person and become a doormat, letting everyone run over me?  Thanks Lord…but no thanks!

Once again, we discover a beatitude which is contrary to what the world is yelling at us today.  Many would probably say that a meek person finishes last, so we need to make sure we are always pushing harder and harder to get further and further ahead.  We must make sure that everyone hears everything we say and sees everything we do to get ahead of the person beside us.  But if we take the time to understand that the meekness Jesus is talking about does not mean weakness, we can begin to figure out how this should affect our lives.  

When I think of meekness as it pertains to this beatitude, the words “settled spirit” comes to my mind.  The world can be swirling around us, but our inner spirit is not frazzled because we are putting our complete trust in our Jesus.  We commit everything we are and everything we have over to Him, knowing He always has our best interest in mind.  Then, we wait patiently (OUCH!) for Him to guide and direct us, not fretting or stewing when we are faced with the detours which come our way.

There is a verse, Psalm 37:11, which also refers to meekness.  It says, “But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”  The verses leading up to these words in verse 11, help us see more clearly how we should be living and is where I find my understanding of this beatitude.  Verses 3-11 say,

“Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land

and enjoy peace and prosperity.”

 

Notice that we also see in these verses that if we are meek, we won’t become angry or exhibit a spirit of revenge on those who may oppose or criticize us.  We will trust in our Jesus to handle those who may be against us, giving up our right to lash out in retaliation. 

Remember, Jesus didn’t stop at saying the meek are blessed; He went on to say they will inherit the earth.  I wonder if He added these words to give His disciples who were listening that day…and His disciples following Him now…hope for our future.  I believe He added these words to give us strength to go on in meekness as we face trials and temptations.  We have our hope in our Jesus and the eternal reward which is waiting for us.  Oh, what a day that will be!  Keeping that in mind should be enough to fill our hearts with joy and strength to trust Him to handle every detail in our lives until we see our Jesus face to face! 

Monday, February 5, 2024

Monday Morning Memo: I'm Supposed to be Sad?

If I had to make a guess…it would be that you don’t like to be sad.  In fact, I’ll even go out on a limb and assume you probably go to great lengths to avoid feeling forlorn.  Hospitals and funeral homes, more than likely, aren’t your favorite places to go either.  I know all of this because believe me, I’m right there with you on every point.

Then why in the world would Jesus say to us in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”?  Does this mean He wants us to be sad?  Should our goal be to make sure we are really unhappy so He can bless us?

If we look at this beatitude through the eyes of the world, it doesn’t make sense at all.  As I shared last week, our culture screams at us to live for ourselves and do what makes us feel good, so intentionally mourning just doesn’t add up.  But I think we need to look at what the true meaning is of Jesus’ words.

To mourn means to feel or express grief or sorrow, so I think we need to look at ourselves first as we decipher this beatitude.  I think one aspect of Jesus’ words is that we should mourn over our sins, our unworthiness, and our inadequacy as it pertains to our Savior.  We should feel grief and sorrow over our iniquities and be willing to ask for His forgiveness.  Before we can become strong in Him, we need to realize that without Him we are weak and in need of Jesus to guide and direct us.  

I think we then need to ask ourselves how long it has been since we have mourned for others who are lost or are hurting.  It is easy to get so wrapped up in our own lives that we don’t pay any attention to those who are around us.   Romans 12:15 tells us that we are supposed to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn”.   Do we do either one of those things?  Do we really rejoice when others are rejoicing, or are we too jealous?  Are we willing to reach out to those who are hurting, or are we just too busy with our own problems to help carry someone else’s burden?

Mourning with others can be exhausting and sometimes unpleasant.  It may mean that we must sacrifice to come alongside those who need comforting.  But, as followers of Christ, we know that He is our ultimate comforter and He promises to do just that in this beatitude.  But there may be those whom He places in our path who don’t know anything about having a relationship with Him.  They may need to see our compassion, our desire to love them unconditionally, so they can see Christ in us first.  I’m guessing they will be blessed by our actions and I’m sure we will be blessed too. 

Hopefully we are beginning to understand that these beatitudes Jesus shared are meant to affect our daily walk with Him.  Of course the one for next week, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”, might be one that I want to skip.  The word “meek” has never been a true description of me…so that one may step on my toes!